Michele Jakubowski's Blog, page 8

Quite Possibly the Nicest Rejection Ever

I wasn't expecting to hear anything on a Saturday so my heart skipped a beat when I saw a response from a literary agent in my in-box. The bad news: it was a rejection. The (as) good (as it can be) news: it was by far the nicest rejection I've ever received:

Dear Michele,

Thanks for sending this adorable story my way, which I enjoyed reading. There's a lot to like here!

In the end, though, Michele, it was a matter of "like" and not "love," so, with regret, I must pass. I'm so sorry.

But I'm grateful for the opportunity to see this, and I wish you all the best in finding the perfect champion for this yummy series.

Sincerely yours,

Awesome Agent (OK, that's not her real name, just what I call her)

See what I mean?

For those of you playing along at home:

Queries Sent:                            28  (and yes, I did send out a couple more after I vowed not to…)

Rejections:                          13  (including one very nice one)

Requests for Full:               2

Weeks Since I Sent

My First Query:                  7

One agent who requested to read the full manuscript said she is working about 8 weeks out so I should hopefully hear something in the next week or so. Just the thought of it makes my stomach flip.

Positive thoughts…positive thoughts…

Soaking It All In

We are in the last few days of nice weather for the year in Ohio. It's gorgeous today, almost 70 degrees, and I am inside at my computer working. My dog, Ginger, on the other hand is soaking up the last warm rays of sun. She taunts me by sitting on the deck just outside of the window from where I'm working. Lucky dog.

Getting to Know You

I received an email from my editor yesterday about the Sidney/Sydney books. She said she was putting together the book map/layout (squee!) and wanted to go over a few things with me.

At the beginning of books she wants to include an intro spread on each of the characters. I spent my morning putting together bios and I must say, creating bios of fictitious people (people I created, no less) was an interesting task. I caught myself thinking things like, "Oh, that is so Gomez!" and "That is totally something Sydney would say!" as I typed. It's fascinating to me how much I think of these kids as real people. I hope future readers will feel the same way.

Show and Tell

I just wrapped up book two in the Olive Jooce series and feel good about the way it turned out. I was pleasantly surprised when a side story about sibling jealously unfolded alongside the main storyline of Olive's fear of jumping off the diving board. I love it when stuff like that happens.

I'm toying with the idea of putting Olive on hold until I get some feedback on book one from the agents who are reading it. In the meantime, I've been keeping my eyes and mind open for a good middle grade book storyline. I'd love to write a mystery. Now I just need to figure out the who, what, why, where and when (is that all??). We'll see what happens.

At some point I'll get back to Olive and I've already figured out the topic for book three: Olive is afraid of attending her first sleepover. I remember one of my first sleepovers: I can picture vividly being zipped completely into my sleeping bag wide awake with fear. It wasn't because I was afraid to be away from home or that I missed my own bed – I was petrified of my friend's german shepherd! We were sleeping on the floor and I was convinced that her dog was going to come get me during the night.

Your turn – any funny sleepover stories out there?

Making Connections

I've decided that as part of my whole 'stepping outside of my comfort zone' thing I would try to reach out and make some connections with other writers and folks in the industry. As I've said before, writing can be a pretty lonely gig and I think connecting with others would be really helpful.

Those that know me well might be surprised to find that I'm a pretty shy person. Don't get me wrong, once you know me, you can't get me to shut up, but I'm not so good with the initial contact (unless we're at a public place like the grocery store. I seem to have no trouble chatting with any random person in line, much to my daughter's chagrin).

I've been doing the Twitter and Facebook thing and am not above begging for more followers.

Another great resource has been a writer's forum called Absolute Write. It's like a big party of writers where everyone is chatting about literary agents and how long they take to respond and how often they check their inboxes. I love it.

After much deliberation and editing I made a few posts on AW and connected with another writer who has a full out with the same agent as I do. It was so nice emailing and commiserating with her. We both admitted to sending queries to agents we knew would reject us just so we could hear back quickly from someone.

A friend of mine put me in touch with her relative who is a tween book author and I'm looking forward to 'chatting' with her as well. Sometimes just talking about writing with someone else makes me feel like I'm making forward progress.

I just thought of something else – maybe the reason I want to make these connections is so when I check for the hundredth time there will finally be something in my inbox…

Back Home

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A week in Seattle (LOVED it!) put me a bit behind in the writing department. I jumped back in to book two (pun fully intended as the book is about Olive and a diving board) and am back on track.

My biggest challenge now is to not send out a million query letters. Everything I've been reading said it is best to query in small batches and wait for responses. That way if you're not getting a good response, you can re-work your letter. Makes sense, but I still want to send out a query to every literary agent I can find.NOW.

A few more rejections trickled in while I was gone. Thankfully I had my cell phone so I could get the depressing news no matter where I was drinking coffee in Seattle (seriously, we saw 3 Starbucks while walking one city block).

Here are a few of the lowlights:

"While I believe that your ideas might have market appeal, I am not convinced that we could represent it successfully at this time."

"Dear Michele, thanks for your query, however, as this storyline isn't fully resonating with me, I'll need to pass on this opportunity. I hope soon you'll find a more enthusiastic agent for your novel. " (me too)

"This certainly sounds like an endearing premise for a chapter book series, but I am sorry to say it's just not quite the right match for her list at this time." (sent from an agent's assistant)

For those of you keeping track at home:

26 queries sent

9 rejections

2 requests for full manuscripts

Can you break an email's refresh button from overuse??

Loving Seattle

One of the highlights from the Seattle trip so far is walking on Olive Street and seeing Olive Tower. Perhaps Olive Jooce will visit Seattle in an upcoming book. Too bad she is too young for coffee.

Week One Update

I'm one of those people who when told there is good news and bad news always wants the bad news first. I'm not really a pessimist I just like to get the bad news over with so I can start celebrating the good news.

Bad news: of the 11 queries I sent out this week, 3 of them were 'no thanks.' The good part of the bad news (see? I am an optimist!) is that they were nice rejections. Basically they were the literary version of the 'it's-not-you-it's-me' break up. One agent said, "Unfortunately, I don't feel like I'm quite the right agent match. I'm afraid that I didn't connect the narrative voice as strongly as you'd want an agent advocate to." Another was short and sweet: "Thank you for thinking of me, but I am not a good fit for this!" As depressing as rejections are, these are better than the generic Dear Author rejections I've received in the past and way better than the non-responders that leave me hanging.

On to the good news: of those same 11 queries 2 agents requested to read the full manuscript! To continue with my dating metaphor, this is the equivalent of being asked out on a second date after the first one went so well. And not just a coffee date but dinner and movie!

Even more good news: I heard from my editor regarding the Sydney books and they are going to begin production soon. I asked her to please keep me posted on the details so I can blog the progress. I had pitched the Olive Jooce series to her when I submitted the Sydney books so I let her know that they are coming right along. (Boy, if I continue with this dating metaphor it's going to sound like I'm seeing a lot of people!)

Thanks to a sleepover at my house last night that involved more gaming than sleeping I was up at 3 a.m. and worked through the details of book two. I had the basic premise already (Olive is afraid to jump off the diving board) and was able to flesh out the story. When I got up for the second time to tell those boys to turn off the game and go to sleep I jotted down my thoughts. Thankfully this morning they still made sense and I was able to outline the chapters. Writing will begin Monday morning.

Here's hoping for another productive week!

Let the Querying (slowly) Begin

Book One in the Olive Jooce series is done and I'm very happy with the way it turned out. Thank you for all the fabulous ideas for future books; it was fun to hear of all the quirky things kids fear! While I'm sure I'll be using several of the suggestions, I'm drawing on my own experiences for book two and will have Olive face her fear of jumping off the diving board. I can vividly picture the view from the board at the high school pool where I took swim lessons – it still sends a shiver down my spine.

I've also begun work on the dreaded query letter. A query letter is basically a request for a literary agent or publisher to read your manuscript. The dreaded part for me is that this first impression is so crucial. These folks get gazillions of query letters each day and if you don't dazzle them in the first few lines, it's a short trip to the 'no' pile.

I dipped my toe into the querying pool yesterday and sent out 3 letters to agents that I had corresponded with on the last series. I thought this was a good start since they had shown interest in my work in the past.

Most agents send an auto-reply message letting you know that the email arrived. It can take weeks, if not months, for them to respond (if they respond at all) so this is a good way for them to let you know that your query did not get lost in cyberspace and keeps you from sending a bunch of 'did you get it??' emails. So when I got a quick response from one of the agents I assumed it was a 'I got it, now leave me alone for a few months' email. But it wasn't. She wanted to read the book (squee!).

After I ran downstairs to tell my husband and dance around for joy I sent off the book. She responded right away to let me know that she got it and that she is working about 8 weeks out on submissions. Now we move on to the part of the process that I am not very good at – the waiting.

One and (almost) done

I am happy to report that book one is in its final stages. I have the last two chapters roughed out and so far am very pleased with the way it is turning out. I'm sending out the call here, on Facebook and Twitter for ideas for book two. What are some quirky things you or your kids are/were afraid of? I'm looking for light-hearted subject matter that can be resolved in a short early reader chapter book. I've gotten some fabulous responses already that have really inspired me!

Next week I'm off to visit my dad in IL for a few days. I'm looking forward to seeing him, my brothers and sister and some good friends (and, of course, watching my Huskies beat the Badgers). Fingers crossed I'll have the first draft of book one done before I leave. The following week I'll begin editing and *gulp* start working on my query letter.

Thanks for all the ideas and words of encouragement; I appreciate it so very much!